I think this blog might not be among the usual suspects when it comes to frequent posting, but the last few weeks, it has been awfully quiet over here. For a very good reason, that is. I have been on a trip across the Narrow Sea Atlantic to the sunny California and surrounding states.
This particular post will deal with what I have and have not read in the USA (*).
I don't know how others choose the books they are going to read while on holiday, but for me, it was quite a production - not fit for Broadway, but coming close. I mean, there were a lot of factors to take into account. If you're on the road for two weeks and more, hotelhopping across four states and almost never spending the night twice in the same place, time for reading is limited, scarce and precious. Thus no big, epic, attentionconsuming books. Rereading a book can be fun, but having to start all over again every night because you weren't paying attention the day before to the twist in the plot of the sidequest concerning the daughter of the cook of the handsome prince's late mother's niece that went missing (**), is not fun anymore. Also, being away from home for that amount of time means lots of luggage and even more hauling with it. Will the heavy hardcovers please stay home?
Taking all this into account, the four books that crossed the ocean were...
The first one I read was Charlaine Harris's Dead Until Dark. I am probably the last one to read this, but then again, I'm never at the races when it comes to reading books close to their publication date. I will even add that if it wasn't for the trip and the long flight that goes with it, I probably wouldn't have read it cause I'm already over my head in series. It's just that it seemed a good plane-read and while I was at it, I could finally start watching True Blood. Win-win! This book is also a good example of being overly ambitious, cause I figured I could finish this on the two flights to L.A. and be done with it. But then I saw the little monitor in the headrest before me and the music and movies and series and gamesthat were on it, and my whole plan backfired (***).
Even though I started a new series with Sookie, I made up for that escapade - a little bit - by continuing an ongoing series with Laurell K. Hamilton's Burnt Offerings. With finishing this seventh instalment, I'm nearly 1/3rd through with the series, yay! I finished this one the evening before we had to leave for Belgium again (****), but another long flight would give me a good start in Heart's Blood. I didn't chose this book deliberately, as I did with the others, but instead, I pulled it out of my TBR-jar. Quite a satisfying pick, if you ask me, seeing as it is a standalone and has been standing alone for quite some time on my shelf. The 'good start', however, didn't happen. Having to get up at 3.30am didn't really put me in the mood for reading, not even if it's a Celtic retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I did manage to get 50 pages in, however, so that has to count for something.
Funny how the book I was most excited for, Pale Demon by Kim Harrison, didn't happen at all. It's also a series I am near to catching up with the writing of it, but I recently read the previous novel, so I wanted to sqeeze some books in between. Mission accomplished.
(*) The original plan was to write a post about what I was planning to read and publish that before leaving. That obviously didn't happen. Also, note that I'm going to talk about what I did NOT read. This post will deal with the downside of being overly ambitous. Thou art warned.
(**) I am so very sorry if I spoiled a Game of Thrones plotline here, without my knowing. I jest, the cook's daughter isn't featured in GoT , but she might have!
(***) Oh, and getting up really early to go to the airport makes you sleepdeprived and that doesn't go well with reading.
(****) A week or more so later than planned, so that one blew up in my face as well. But when one is going to the dogs, the rest will follow.
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